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Report Of Abuses In Turkish Institutions Could Affect European Union
Talks
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
September 29,
2005

ISTANBUL, TURKEY--Turkey's government-run psychiatric institutions,
orphanages, and so-called "rehabilitation centers" are violating international
human rights laws by engaging in inhumane treatment -- including torture -- of
thousands of adults and children with disabilities.

That's the conclusion of an 81-page report released Wednesday by the
advocacy organization Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI).

The report could have tremendous implications for Turkey, which begins
formal talks to join the European Union on Monday, October 3.

Earlier this year, MDRI investigators interviewed former patients for
first-hand accounts of their treatment at the state-operated facilities. They
also took photograph and video cameras into institutions to document the
horrific conditions the residents and patients endure.

The investigators found that, because there are no laws protecting
people with disabilities from institutionalization and harsh treatment, many
people exist in dangerous, life-threatening circumstances -- particularly for
children.

"We saw children who were essentially abandoned, starving, tied down to
their beds," said Eric Rosenthal, MDRI's founder.

"Children's arms, legs, and spines become contorted and atrophy from the
lack of activity or physical therapy," the report indicated. "The effect of
living without loving care-takers or any form of stimulation causes some
children to become self-abusive. Rehabilitation centers offer no assistance for
self-abusive children other than to tie them down."

Staff had tied both the legs and arms of some children to their beds so
they are permanently restrained. Some children, whose only form of stimulation
had been to chew on their fingers or poke their faces, were protected from
self-abuse by staff that permanently duct taped their hands into the cut-off
bottoms of plastic soda pop bottles.

One video shows a child whose spine was curved backward so badly from a
lack of therapy that the youngster could not lay down properly.

MDRI investigators also found that doctors in Turkey's psychiatric
institutions were routinely subjecting nearly one-third of their patients -- as
young as 9 years of age -- to electro convulsive therapy (ECT) without benefit
of anesthesia.

During ECT, an electrical current is passed through the brain causing a
full body seizure. While it is an accepted practice worldwide for treating
specific mental illness, such as severe depression, it is normally administered
with anesthesia and muscle relaxants to calm patients and to avoid pain, broken
jaws, and cracked spines.

The human rights group found that Turkish doctors were administering
"raw" ECT for such things as punishment. One doctor reportedly told
investigators: "Patients with major depression feel that they need to be
punished. If we use anesthesia the ECT won't be as effective because they won't
feel punished."

The report details how patients were dragged to ECT sessions in
straitjackets and then forcibly held down by staff during the procedures.

MDRI hopes that the report's timing will bring the attention of the
world, and especially Europe, to the conditions in Turkey's institutions, so
they can force government officials there to implement their recommendations
and improve the lives of people with disabilities.

"The Government of Turkey must make a commitment to the full inclusion
of people with mental disabilities in all aspects of Turkish society," the
report concluded.

According to the International Herald Tribune, the report will likely be
used by European officials who oppose allowing Turkey to join the Union because
of the country's poor human rights record.

[Editor's caution: I found both the descriptions and video clips of the
conditions in these facilities and the souls that exist there heart-wrenchingly
disturbing. -- Dave]

The GCDD is funded under the provisions of P.L. 106-402. The federal law also provides funding to the Minnesota Disability Law Center,the state Protection and Advocacy System, and to the Institute on Community Integration, the state University Center for Excellence. The Minnesota network of programs works to increase the IPSII of people with developmental disabilities and families into community life.